12.15pm

Jordan's king delays Bush meeting

The king of Jordan has postponed a meeting with the US president, George Bush, in the wake of Washington's shift in Middle East policy.

In a surprise move, King Abdullah II announced late last night that his visit to the White House, scheduled for tomorrow, would be put back until next month.

The move was in order to allow the US to "clarify" its commitment to the peace process, he said.

The apparent snub, from one of Washington's closest allies, comes amid Arab anger at Mr Bush for endorsing an Israeli proposal to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank but keep Jewish settlements on other West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians.

Mr Bush's statement, after a White House meeting with Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, last week, constituted a historic change in policy.

Palestinian leaders accused the administration of damaging hopes of a negotiated settlement.

The White House played down any hint of friction with Jordan, saying tomorrow's meeting, which was to have focused on the Middle East peace process, had been rescheduled for the first week of May because of "developments in the region".

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the National Security Council, said: "The king decided this week it was better for him to be in Jordan, and we understand that."

But King Abdullah has been in the US since last week, and it was not clear today whether he had left.

Court officials declined to reveal the king's whereabouts, telling the Associated Press news agency they did not know when he would return to Jordan.

A statement from at the king's palace, in Amman, said he had instructed his foreign minister to remain in Washington to continue discussions with the Bush administration and to prepare for his return to the US in May.

The statement said the Abdullah-Bush meeting would not be held "until discussions and deliberations are concluded with officials in the American administration to clarify the American position on the peace process and the final situation in the Palestinian territories, especially in light of the latest statements by officials in the American administration".

Jordan is considered a key moderate ally of the US, and is one of only two of Israel's Arab neighbours to have a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

But some Jordanian citizens question their government's relationship with the US, which they accuse of siding with Israel against the Palestinians.

King Abdullah is under pressure at home to demonstrate his US ties can further Arab positions on the Israeli-Palestinian question as well as on the US occupation of Iraq.

The rift between the Bush administration and its moderate Arab allies over Mr Bush's statement on Israeli settlements is one of the worst to emerge in years.

It has exacerbated the tense relations between the US and Arab countries over the war in Iraq.

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